The Power of Love is a Curious Thing

Hey, kids. It’s the Botching One with another (painfully late) Pickup. What can I say? I watched the show like I always do and wrote as I watched but forgot to finish this off until right now. Shame on me. Better late than never, right? Okay, here we go!

Ah, it wouldn’t be “205 Live” if it didn’t open with some member of the Lucha House Party. This is a switch because we get him facing Mike Kanellis! He’s been virtually inactive since he came to WWE in the middle of last year. The match itself was pretty good. He’s basically the same character that he was elsewhere and he does it pretty well. Maria is complete and total slime and if you don’t hate her already, you will…and it’ll be great. She stayed totally involved during the match and she has a presence that’s hard to forget. I have to hand it to our Golden Lynx. He does one heck of a rana off the top rope. This match had a lot of nice back and forth which is not the least bit unusual given the fact that Lince Dorado’s in the match. Of course, Kanellis is no slouch at all and he proved it here big time. Dorado can do all he wants but if Kanellis isn’t good enough to keep up, it’s all for naught. Loved hearing the “Mike Kanellis” chants….coming really loudly from one person…LOL! Grabbing and releasing the top rope into Lince’s head was heel-ish greatness. Into his finisher and this was over. They’re painting this as “Mike couldn’t have done it without Maria”. He could have (she wasn’t that involved in the finish) but that’s the story they’re telling. Not bad at all!

Kudos to Nigel for quoting Huey Lewis as well. I liked it so much that…well…look at the title.

Backstage segment – Drake Maverick

He’s here to break this Mustafa Ali/Hideo Itami thing down. He’s also there to show us what next week’s episode will look like. Well done.

Backstage segment – The Brian Kendrick

He’s gone face now…but he still doesn’t sound like it. He shouldn’t either. If he did, it’d be silly. He’s quietly furious and that’s as it should be. He’ll tangle with Gallagher next week and he’ll get no mercy, gosh darn it!

Cinéma de iPhone – Lio Rush

The arrogance! Who doesn’t love that? The guy is good. He just is. He’s also undefeated on “205 Live”. When he loses, whenever that is, it’ll be delicious.

Backstage segment – Buddy Murphy & Tony Nese

This was okay. This was very scripted (everything is) but it sounded like it was too. Not terrible but not amazing either.

Mustafa Ali vs. Hideo Itami

This was off the rails good! They have been merciless with each other but this brought out more mercilessness of Ali too. They took each other to their absolute limits here. The story between them has been very well-told and this really was, as Percy said, a complete and utter war. I really loved that they were checking on each other throughout to make sure the other was okay. They were also “spot-calling” some of it too which made it that much fresher. The story ended with Mustafa getting on the top rope, saying “I always respected you”, and then hitting a 450 Splash on a prone Itami as he lay on a table.

Backstage segment – Drake Maverick

We get Ali vs. Nese next week. The winner gets Murphy. I can get with that. I love Mustafa but I kinda want to see Nese vs. Murphy because they’re supposed to be friends. What can I say? I love imploding friendships. Such a drama king, right?

If you have yet to watch the Ali/Itami match, do it. You will be richly rewarded for it. The guys in “205 Live” are masters at finishing an episode in amazing fashion. See you next week for another edition of “The Pickup”!